Whitney Tilson’s email to investors discussing your next car may let you drive hands-free. Is that a good thing?; debate on EV adoption; not a Merry Christmas for Tesla in the Netherlands.
Q3 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
1) A recent article in the WSJ (full text below): Your Next Car May Let You Drive Hands-Free. Is That a Good Thing?
Debate On EV Adoption
2) Interesting tweet:
A friend’s reply:
Actually that “point” misses the obvious and real point entirely: Sales of new and ICE cars in Norway are declining for the exact same reason they are declining in other places too — Taxes and de-facto subsidies.
If you tax ICE vehicles 100% extra excise tax, plus VAT 25% on top of that, plus exempt BEVs from all sorts of (parking, ferry, carpool lane etc) fees, plus the annual vehicle registration tax, then obviously fewer people will buy ICEs — new and old alike.
This is not a mystery. The government said “Tax pizzas 125%, abolish all taxes on hamburgers.” Small wonder then, that people eat more hamburgers than pizzas.
Not A Merry Christmas For Tesla In The Netherlands
3) Anton Wahlman’s latest: Not A Merry Christmas For Tesla In The Netherlands. Excerpt:
- In December 2019, Tesla sold a whopping 12,053 Model 3 units in the Netherlands. It was 13% of Tesla’s entire global automotive unit sales for the entire quarter.
- This year, as of December 24, Tesla is on track for a 60% decline in the Netherlands. Mind you, that’s a 60% decline in absolute numbers.
- Which is worse, the decline in absolute numbers or the loss of BEV market share? Tesla isn’t even leading the BEV sales charts in the Netherlands anymore.
- New competitive models from Volkswagen and Volvo/Polestar have now matched or overtaken Tesla in short order. Hyundai too.
- Tesla is increasing sales in China, but in places such as the Netherlands, it’s losing both market share and absolute numbers of unit sales. Competition in Europe is growing fast.
